Potholes at Blackhall Scheme Houses

Following a query from a resident last week we have reported potholes in the road at Scheme Houses in Blackhall Colliery for repair.

We have seen potholes specifically at Milton Avenue, Shakespeare Avenue, Tennyson Avenue and at the chicane near to the play area but rather than report single, isolated incidents we have asked highways engineers to inspect the whole estate and arrange for repairs to be carried out wherever needed.

We also noted that highway patching works were carried out to the top of the estate recently when white lines were marked at the junction with Shaftesbury Crescent but we would rather be sure that no location was missed.

We have also asked the neighbourhood wardens to take a look around the estate and make arrangements to remove any fly-tipping found on council owned or maintained land.

Update on works to remove Hesleden Pit Heap

Following residents' queries yesterday regarding works along the track between Hesleden WMC and the Haswell to Hart walkway (shown in red on the map below) we made enquiries with the planning office at county hall to clarify the current status of plans to remove the pit heap from the village (please see post dated Wednesday 6 January 2016 for details of the planning process to date).

We have now received the following information from the planning case officer in charge of the development:

The works that have been carried out so far are the removal of the hedgerow to the east of the junction of Gray Avenue with the B1281 and works are about to begin to remove trees from the site.  The operator has also carried out works to trees along the Hart to Hesleden walkway at the request of the Councils Countryside team.  None of these works required planning permission and so the development has not yet commenced.  I understand that the next operation will be to install a metered water supply to the site and also for the benefit of the allotment holders on the access track.

We still need to discharge the drainage details for the site before the development can commence.  

We will continue to monitor progress with this development to ensure that any disruption to residents is kept to a minimum and that all conditions attached to the planning consent are met in full.

If you have any particular issues or concerns about this matter please get in touch in the usual way, or click on the email links shown below:

rob.crute@durham.gov.uk or lynn.pounder@durham.gov.uk

February ward surgery at Hesleden

We seldom alter our monthly advice surgery arrangements, and do so only where there is no alternative, but due to unforeseen circumstances we have had to postpone the February ward surgery due to be held tomorrow morning at Hesleden Chapel.

We have rescheduled the monthly surgery to be held next Thursday, 2 March at the usual location.

If you have any urgent matters you would like to tell us about before then please contact us in the usual way (or by simply clicking on the email links below) and we'll make alternative arrangements to deal with your concerns.

lynn.pounder@durham.gov.uk or
rob.crute@durham.gov.uk

Immediate response to fly tipping at Blackhall Rocks

We have reported regularly over the past few weeks about the rapidly increasing number of incidents of fly tipping in and around the villages of our ward.

Fly-tipping at Railway Cottages yesterday morning

Many of these incidents have been isolated to the Blackhall Colliery area but yesterday we received a report of fly tipping at a garage site adjacent to Railway Cottages at Blackhall Rocks. We reported the incident immediately and thankfully the team was on-site later the same day to remove the rubbish and debris.

The same location before 8.30 this morning

It's good to know that we have an active Clean & Green team available to respond swiftly to such incidents but we're sure everyone in our villages would agree that we would all be better off financially and environmentally if fly-tippers made the effort to dispose of their rubbish in the proper manner.

Neighbourhood wardens will now carry out an investigation into this incident, including an analysis of the debris and rubbish for incriminating evidence, which often leads to identification and prosecution of the parties involved.

BT Openreach's response to our query on Broadband provision

Last month we reported that we had approached the office of Grahame Morris MP to enquire about any dealings they might have had with BT Openreach in pressing for an improved broadband service in Hesleden, High Hesleden, Castle Eden and other parts of our ward (please see post dated Saturday 28 January 2017 for background information).

We have now received a response from Grahame's office but unfortunately it offers little by way of commitment from BT Openreach to upgrade Cabinet 9 at Wellfield. We are particularly concerned about their comments relating to "early design stages" when we have been told previously that the cabinet simply required upgrading and was awaiting a position in BT's annual programme scheduled to begin next month.

Clearly BT Openreach do not share our urgency in finding a solution to the abysmal broadband service provided in parts of our ward so we will seek further assistance from the Digital Durham team in pressing for an alternative approach.

We have published BT's response to Grahame's office below:

Thank you for your email of 6 February to Stephen Little about the upgrade of cabinet 9 connected to Wellfield exchange.

As Stephen advised you in his e-mail, cabinet 9 is part of our commercial programme,  but it is very much in the early design stages so we are unable to provide an expected completion date.   However, our experience is if there are no issues with finding a suitable location for the fibre cabinet or with the civil engineering work, we would typically be looking at 12 months before the area is ready to take fibre broadband orders.

In your e-mail you have asked about BT’s commercial plans.  I’m not sure what specific information you want.  If there’s  a particular area you are concerned about then please share this information with Stephen and we’ll be happy to investigate further for you.

In case you are not aware, we have an Openreach website which is updated with our latest plans.  Individuals need to put in their postcode or telephone number to find out the latest situation about the availability of fibre broadband in their area.  I’m happy if you to share the website below with any of Grahame’s constituents who get in touch with your office.

https://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/superfast-fibre.aspx

I hope my comments help.

  

Kind regards

Katherine Elders

Customer Resolutions HLC

Openreach

Web: www.openreach.co.uk

Network Rail to clear debris from Blackhall Colliery railway embankment

Earlier this week we reported on an increase in the number of incidents of fly-tipping in our area, especially in and around some parts of Blackhall Colliery. One of these related to rubbish being tipped over the bridge onto the railway embankment behind the Navy Club (please see post dated Monday 6 February 2017 for background information).

We got in touch with Network Rail to tell them about this particular incident and to ask them to investigate further. We are pleased to report that we have received a quick response from the company to let us know that they will make arrangements to remove the debris when circumstances are more appropriate for safe clearance.

We are particularly pleased to note that they intend to undertake upgrading works to their bridge to help prevent similar incidents in future.

We have reproduced their response in full below for information:

Dear Councillor,

I refer to your recent email about fly tipping on the railway embankment at Blackhall Colliery.

Our maintenance team went to site on the 6 February to repair damaged fencing and they removed litter/debris at that location. They reported that there is historical fly tipping within a wet sheer incline which is currently inaccessible.  We will place in our workbank for a dry period and will have to recover using safety harness and specialist contractors.

It also appears that residents are tipping items over the bridge , we will be speaking to our structures team to see if the fencing can be upgraded  and affix bridge corners to try and prevent future fly tipping.

I do hope that this information is useful.

Regards

Recent increase in reported fly-tipping incidents

Over the past few months we have noticed a significant spike in reported incidents of fly-tipping in our villages, and most notably in the back streets and rear yards of empty properties in Blackhall Colliery.

Over this weekend alone we received reports of a fridge and other household goods abandoned in Fourth Street, vehicle tyres dumped along Mickle Hill Road between High Hesleden and Blackhall Rocks and general waste thrown over the bridge onto the railway embankment behind the Navy Club.

Household waste dumped on the railway embankment

Fridge abandoned outside a property in Fourth Street

Tyres dumped by the roadside at Mickle Hill Road 

As in all cases we reported these incidents to the neighbourhood wardens and the street cleaning team straight away for their attention, with the exception of the rubbish on the railway embankment which we reported to Network Rail for their investigation and clearance.

In many cases fly-tipping and abandoned furniture is collected within a few days but occasionally clearance may take a little longer, especially when there is private-sector involvement.

We will monitor progress and we will continue to report all such incidents immediately on receipt of reports from the public. In the meantime we would like to thank our neighbourhood organisations, residents, motorists and others for their vigilance and for making us aware of these incidents. 

Although fly-tipping is a major problem in and around our villages, especially in these difficult financial times for the local authority, we can get on top of it by working together as a community.

Hesleden school pupils take the lead in our dog fouling campaign

Last month we wrote on this site about an increase in the number of reported incidents of dog fouling in Hesleden (please see post dated Tuesday 17 January 2017 for background information).

We asked the council's Clean & Green team to clear the worst affected areas and we also contacted the Neighbourhood Wardens to ask them to give the village more attention in terms of patrolling the most reported locations at peak times.

At the same time we approached Hesleden Primary School to ask if the children there would be interested in taking part in a competition to design a poster aimed at deterring irresponsible dog walkers from allowing their pets to make a mess of the streets.

Staff were very keen to take part in this initiative so today we went along to meet the Pupil Voice group in school to talk about a number of environmental issues as they affect Hesleden, and particularly those related to dog fouling.

Pupils were full of great ideas about ways of getting the message across to dog walkers that their activities were unpleasant and unwanted, and they were particularly keen to get started on designing their posters.

We will go back in to school in a few weeks time to meet the Pupil Voice group again, take a look at their finished work and pick a design to be used to promote the poster campaign in the village.

We would like to thank the staff and pupils for their warm welcome to Hesleden school. We have visited on a number of occasions now and we are always assured of a special reception. In particular, the members of the Pupil Voice group are a pleasure to meet. They are a credit to their school and the village and we look forward to meeting up with them again soon to judge the poster competition.